The applicant, Ioan T. Morar, is a Romanian national who was born in 1956 and lives in Bucharest. The case concerned the criminal conviction and civil liability of a journalist working for a satirical weekly for defamation against the political adviser to an electoral candidate. In February and March 2004 Mr Morar, who is a professional journalist, published several articles in the Academia Caţavencu satirical weekly magazine in the context of the 2004 presidential elections. The articles concerned, among others, V.G., who was political adviser to a potential candidate at the time. On 26 April 2004 V.G. lodged a criminal complaint with the court against three journalists from the satirical weekly, including Mr Morar, for defamation. The court acquitted Mr Morar. On 23 December 2005 the County Court upheld V.G.’s appeal on points of law and sentenced Mr Morar to a criminal fine, suspended. The court further sentenced the journalist to pay civil damages to V.G. for the non-pecuniary damage he had suffered, totalling 10,000 US dollars (USD), plus USD 16,000 in costs and expenses. The company publishing the Academia Caţavencu satirical weekly was declared civilly liable jointly and severally with Mr Morar. The County Court held that the journalist had committed defamation by “indirect intention”. Relying in particular on Article 10 (freedom of expression), Mr Morar alleged that his freedom of expression had been impeded.